Sewing-machine attachment.



No. 865,544. PATENTED SEPT. 10, 1907.

T. A. TEATE. SEWING MACHINE ATTACHMENT.

APPLIGATION FILED APB-3,1907.

WITN 5 I ATTORNEYS nnrrnn s rn i s grnnr OFFICE.

THOMAS A. TEATE, OF THOMASVILLE, GEORGIA, ASSIGNORv OF ONE-FOURTH TO CLYDE N. NEEL, ONE-FOURTH TO ELIJAH L. NEEL, AND ONE-FOURTH TO HERBERT A. NEEL, OF

THOMASVILLE, GEORGIA.

SEWING-MACHINE ATTACHMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. Sept. 10, 1907.

Application filed April 3,1907. Serial No. 366,211.

To all about it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS A. TEATE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Thomasville, in the county of Thomas and State of Georgia, have invented a new and useful Sewing-Machine Attachment, of which the .following is a specification.

This invention relates to sewing machine operating devices, and has for its principal object to provide an improved means whereby the ordinary machine may be operated by hand power.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of this character which may be readily applied to existing machines of all types, whether of the drop head or box top style, and which furthermore may be readily adjusted to operative and inoperative positions without the necessity of disconnecting it from the machine or the pedal.

With these and other objects in view, as will more fully hm'einafter appear, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts, hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that various changcs in the form, proportions, size and minor details of the structure may be made without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings:-l igure 1 is a perspective view of a machine operating device constructed in accordance with the invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the device showing the same adjusted to one inoperative position. Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the device adjusted to another inoperative position.

Similar numerals of reference are employed to in dicate corresponding parts throughout the severa figures of the drawings.-

It is found difficult and impossible in many cases fo persons to operate the ordinary machine by foot power, and in carrying out the present invention it is designed to provide a device of simple construction which may be attached to the pedal and placed within convenient reach of the hand of the operator.

On top of the pedal it is placed a bar 10, which is secured in place by bolts passing through the bar and pedal and by small wing nuts 11 carried by the bolts, this arrangement permitting the ready attaching and detaching of the pedal bar.

To the forward end of the pedal bar is hinged a pitman 15, the upper end of which is pivotally connected by a hinge 16 to a hand lever 17 The inner end of the hand lever is pivotally connected to the table top by a suitable hinge 18, while the outer end of said lever is placed at the right hand side of the machine within convenient reach of the operator, and by moving the lever in a vertical plane, the pedal may be actuated in the same manner as when operated by the foot.

In order to permit ready adjustment of the device to inoperative position and permit the dropping of the hand lever to a position under the table when the machine is not in use the pitman 15 is made in two sections 20 and 21. These sections are connected to-. gether by a pivot pin 22, and on the upper section is arranged a pair of staples or eyelets 23, which are directly in alinement with a corresponding staple or eyelet 24 011 the lower section 21. The two upper eyelets serve as guides for a locking pin 25 which may be moved down through all three of the staples or eyelets, and thus lock the two parts of the pitman from movement relative to each other. When the locking pin is withdrawn from the lower eyelet or staple, the two members of the pitman may be swung either forward or rearward in order that the hand lever may be lowered out of the way. The upper end of the pin is provided with a handle member 27 that is turned at a right angle to the length of the pin, and said handle member may be turned to a position over a holding pin 28 for the purpose of retaining it in unlocked position when necessary.

Where the device is applied to a box top machine, the bending of the pitman members may be inward, as indicated in Fig 2, and the operating lever may be dropped to an approximately vertical position. Where the drop head machine is used, the holding cabinet may to some extent interfere with the inward bending of the members of the pitman, and in such case they may break joint outward, although this latter adjustment is not so convenient as where the inward bend is made. I j

The device may be manufactured in quantity and applied to practically any type of sewing machine, and it is not necessary to manufacture a separate and distinct article for different styles of machines.

The device is found of considerable value where 95 the operator is physically incapable of running a machine by foot power.

pliealtion to machines of difterent type and to allow the hand lever to assume a vertical position, and means for locking the sections of the pitman rigidly in alinement.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto aflixed my signature in the presence of two 15 I claim: I In a device of the class specified, a hand lever arranged t for pivotal connection to the top or table of the sewing l machine and provided with a beveled attaching end to 5 permit its free swinging to vertical position when not in I I use, a pedal attaching bar, a pitman extending from the Wltnesses I forward end of the pedal'attaehing bar to the hand lever lHOMAS TEAIE' and pivoted to the lever at a point intermediate the ends Witnesses:

CHAS. Ti STUART, J. W, H. Mrrennnn.

thereof, the pitman being formed of pivotally connected 10 sections free to swing in either direction to permit ap- 

